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Hacker Protects Charity Organization
April 12th, 2042: World Renowned Hacker Founds New Company to "Protect" Charity Organizations A Newswire Special Report and Interview with Alvarez Famosa By: Terri Kopp Terri: Many of you are familiar with Alvarez Famosa. Known worldwide as a computer security consultant, in the likes of Kevin Mitnick and Joan Feigenbaum, Mr. Famosa has recently launched a new endeavor to protect those who help the helpless in an ever increasing technological world. There have been many high-level security breaches of computer systems in the last few years. Many of these are aimed at financial and military institutions, and are widely reported on. In response to this, security and cryptography firms have stepped up their game to stop the advancing threat. There is a very active war going on between hacker and security forces through the medium of the Internet, with many of the engagements ending in stalemates. What many people do not realize is that smaller managed or non-profit companies, ones with incidentally large bank accounts, are frequently targeted by vicious and aggressive hacks. I'm talking today about charity organizations, especially those that support human rights related agendas. Some of these groups receive donations in the tens of millions, and due to their very nature as non-profit and charitable, their security is never state of the art. It is estimated that targeted hacks resulted in a loss of over 450 Million dollars from charity organizations in the last five years alone, as much as 60% being uninsured. This is where Mr. Famosa steps in. His newly established company "Krycek Protection Services" is creating infrastructure available for free to established and reputable charities. Granting them "Consortium Level Security" on their data and financial information, he promises to put an end to hackers who prey on those who lack the ability to properly defend themselves. With me here today, live from the VR, is Alvarez Famosa to talk about the future of security, his personal goals, and his past life as a world-renowned hacker. Welcome to the studio, Mr. Famosa. Alvarez: Thank you for having me here, Terri. I'm glad my project is getting some coverage! Terri: Let's talk a bit first about your past as a hacker. Alvarez: Ha! Sure. I guess you want to know more about the Macroscene hack? It makes sense, considering that we're standing at the heart of the VR. Terri: Sure, let's hear more about it. Alvarez: Well, I was 14, you know? I wanted to make a mark and the VR was still something that was developing. They still had shoddy security architecture in place so it wasn't too hard to get past it. Took a few weeks. Terri: Weeks? I thought hackers can, you know... and they're in! Alvarez: I think you've seen a few too many movies Terri! Actual hacking and security breaking is a long, frustrating process. Sometimes you can get in without even touching a keyboard, just social engineering your way in. That's what Kevin (Mitnick) pioneered. It's just another form of grifting someone. Just, in this case, you can steal data worth millions. Terri: But that's not what you did to Macroscene? Alvarez: Hell no! I wanted them to succeed. They had games coming I wanted to play! I did the next best thing. I hacked in a giant statue of myself in the middle of Central Square. Right there. There's still a plaque if you go take a look. The Site of the Alvarez Famosa Statue! I had a moustache, like THIS big! Terri: And that's why you were never prosecuted? Alvarez: Co-rect. It was just mischief. But it got me noticed. So when a few years later I decided to try a few big name hacks it wasn't long before the police came knocking on my doorstep. So I showed em everything I'd taken. All the money from the Deutch Bank. The security data from CSIS. The rejected plans for the Amaratesu Defense System. Gave it all back, and told 'em I did it for one reason: To prove those companies and ministries needed better defense. Terri: And now you're famous for it! Alvarez: Infamous, more like it! I got lucky. My lawyer was able to prove in court that I had benevolent reasons. And I'd never spent a dime of the money, nor given the data away. I'm not a bad guy, Terri. I just wanted to prove a point. That even the big firms weren't properly protected from the rising threat of hackers. Terri: Speaking of... Alvarez: Krycek Protection Services. Named after my cousin. Terri: You say "Consortium Level Security". Are they helping you? Alvarez: Ehhhh. Not really. I was able to buy some of their old encryption stuff from before they upgraded, post LDS conflict. Once I had that, I was able to find the paths they were gonna take, and developed it on my own. I consider what I've created to be as strong as what they're using now. Terri: Have you ever tried to hack them? Alvarez: The Queen asked me to, once. I still haven't taken her up on the offer. The King scares me. A lot. I don't really want to see what's behind the things he can do. Terri: Who are you going to give your software to first? Alvarez: First up is the big names. Unicef. Doctors Without Borders. Open World. Once we've got the bigger names protected, we're gonna move on to the smaller ones. I hope to one day have every legitimate charity behind my wall. Terri: Why charities? Why not help the big companies and corporations that you once targeted? Alvarez: The answer is money. Not for the reason you may think. I don't want, or need money. Those big companies, they'll pay premium. They can afford it. I was offered twenty million dollars to protect SK Mining. Turned it down, passed it off to a bigger security company. That's not what I want. Those companies, they can afford to pay for security people to build their encryption. Charities, and smaller humanitarian companies, they can't afford it. So they suffer. Hackers have gotten GOOD, Terri. Really good. Better than most people think, or realize. Tech, it's gotten very advanced. Faster than security and encryption can keep up. So stuff is being brute forced and the system can't keep up to lock it out. Terri: Those big companies must want your encryption though. Alvarez: Oh, they want it. I've had dozens of offers to buy it outright. That's not the point. The little guys, they are minnows in a pond full of sharks they can't see. Won't see. Won't even understand, until suddenly they're in their gullet. Metaphor breaks down a bit, but you get the picture. Terri: How soon till it's up and running? Alvarez: Fully? Few weeks. We've already made the overtures, but not all of the big charities are eager to sign on. I mean, they're handing over their credentials to a dude who once made a thirty meter statue of himself in a fedora with a moustache. So I gotta impress 'em some other ways. He doesn't know it yet, but the CEO of People First Charity should be waking up soon and finding out that every dollar of his is locked behind a new firewall. Every cent. Don't worry, Bill. It'll unlock after 9:30 GMT. Proves my point though, your guys never even heard me. I was a whisper. Now imagine if I wanted to take that money? Terri: You hacked them? Alvarez: All of them. Every big charity. I'm saying it out right now. Fourteen of the fifteen big charities in the world, I own you. Credentials and all. Terri: That sounds like a threat. Alvarez: Ehhhh, it isn't. I think they know that. It's a game. If any of you can find my presence, and kill it, I'll donate ten million, upfront, to your charity. Terri: This could get expensive. Alvarez: Could be. Or I could just donate back with their own money! Ha! Terri: What do you see is the future in the world of security? Alvarez: Oh, it's dangerous out there. Tech is increasing way faster than we can control it. At a rate that hasn't been seen since the microchip era of the 80's and 90's last century. Faster, even. Every week someone has a new nano-processor, and quantum computing is really taking off. How do you protect yourself against a hacker armed with a home quantum computer? Unless you've got the greatest, and best, what are you gonna do? There's some dangerous stuff happening out there, and it's rarely reported on. Terri: Like what? Alvarez: Well.... I know last week every single legacy World of Warcraft account got hacked! Every one! Terri: That's... not what I was expecting. Alvarez: Yea, but, you know, that's a metric ton of personal info. Security questions, old credit cards, that sort of thing. May not seem dangerous, but that's also like twenty million users. Loads of data. Can use that to no end. They're attacking these legacy systems that are hardly protected 'cause no one thinks of it. Wiping it out, pillaging, and running. Salting the earth. Terri: So what do we do? Alvarez: Invest in security companies. Use those quantum computers, and spread 'em out. Learn how people like me can take your money and do everything you can do stop us. Or hey, the safest bet? Turn your money into cash and hide it under your bed. Terri: Looks like we're out of time. Thank you, Mr. Famosa. This has been enlightening. Alvarez: Pleasure, ma'am. Hey. Take a look at that. Outside. Terri: That's... Alvarez: Yea. Looks like my statue is back. Wonder how that happened, eh? END. Category:Alvarez Famosa Category:Terri Kopp Category:Transcripts Category:VR News